Sinclair Lewis’ George F. Babbitt is a complicated and conflicted character. When you think you have his next move figured out, he surprises you. As you begin to like him, he does something to evoke the “what a rat” response.

Male menopause wasn’t a pre-Great Depression term, but you could say George has all the symptoms. At a pudgy, balding 46, he looks at his life, wife, family, and business. He sees himself as a pretty successful business man, but when Tanis, the lonely widow, has a leaky roof, he sees an opportunity for perhaps a more fulfilling relationship then he has at home. Add to Tanis a foray into radical politics, and we are about to witness an emotional and financial train wreck with Babbitt at the throttle.